Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game News

With this small update we're attacking some of the remaining issues and have a potential fix for one of the largest remaining sources of game crashes.

[h3]General Fixes [/h3]

• Possible fix for race condition crash occurring during demographic calculations
  
• Fixed various strings in campaign tech tree chart that either were missing or not showing up
  
• Fixed chassis, body, and family techpool resetting on facelifts
  
• Fixed variant names not automatically populating, causing exporter issues
  
• Fixed issue with bad scale of distributor level of detail
  
• Fixed airbox art issues
  
• Updated safety regulations, Hetvesia now is toughest, Fruinia less so but nuanced
  Fruinia ups its regs for 1960 when they open the floodgates to Archanan sh!tboxes, while Hetvesia tries to avoid subjecting their citizens to the cardboard builds coming over from Fruinia.

We're keeping an eye on what issues might remain.
Cheers!

With this patch we are wrapping up the focused development of the Ellisbury Update. If things break or issues pop up, we'll address them via smaller hotfixes. So what is in this patch? Have a look!

[h3]General Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• Implemented familiarity gain dependence on the difference between Quality and TechPool
  
• Updated campaign safety regulations to better match the new safety stat progression
  
• Added a lock/unlock all fixtures button to Advanced Fixture Controls
  
• Added poster layout with single masked car image to allow auto-cropping to .png
  
• Added part type in tooltip for research timeline items
  
• Added VRAM usage indicator and warning system
  
• Fixed pushrod heads causing the headers to be angled incorrectly
  
• Fixed error in car body BodyEditor_10sSupercar02-Coupe_Update_1_0_Preview
  
• Fixed issue with traction graph scaling when using AWD scaling with force, not acceleration
  
• Fixed limit to awareness option not working correct in markets drop down
  
• Fixed tooltip inconsistency for engine family
  
• Fixed techpool UI not updating when switching entertainment category
  
• Fixed disabled addons not telling you why they are disabled
  
• Turned off a plugin that was crashing on startup for some people
  
• Possibly fixed a crash with loading of mods
  
• Made safemode not load mods
  
• Improved performance going into car and engine designer loading
  
• Disabled being able to edit the sandbox company in the company manager.
  Note: This may require cars to be moved out of the edited sandbox company.
  
• Added a database clean-up on entering car and engine manager to save corrupted items
  Note: If you have a database with thousands of orphaned items, this may take a minute!

[h3]Art & Car Bodies[/h3]

• Added a new family of car bodies named grm_mercy
  
• Revised DAOHC head art
  
• Fixed a shading issue on left rear quarter panel of 10sSupercar02 family
  
• Fixed missing interior polygons on FLAT DAOHC Classic Blocky valve cover

[h3]BeamNG Exporter[/h3]

• Adjusted automatic torque converter sizing for more correct stall/launch rpm
  
• Greatly reduced low load automatic shift point RPM values
  
• Adjusted dual clutch launch RPM values to prevent clutch from engaging at idle
  
• Corrected motion ratio issue with Macpherson suspension
  
• Adjusted steering limiter beams on Macpherson front to prevent wheel full lock "jacking"
  
• Increased max steering angle of Macpherson and Live Axle to match Double Wishbone
  
• Overhaul of damper stiffness exporting for more correct damping values
  
• Fixed swaybar stiffness exporting softer than it should, and sometimes inconsistently front to rear
  
• Further tweaks to tyre sliding friction and Stribeck values to improve handling during slides
  
• Fixed Advanced AWD having no bias offset at low drivetrain quality
  
• On-Demand AWD offroad locked enables at trim year + drivetrain quality of 2016

We're keeping a close eye on what more needs fixing.
Cheers!

A quick hotfix for new and old issues that were discovered in the latest version!

[h3]Hotfix 3 General Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed memory leak / infinite loop in engine designer causing game freeze
  
• Fixed changing factory tooling time and costs on retooling start
  
• Fixed campaign top bar emissions UI not working correctly in campaign hub
  
• Fixed BeamNG exporter crash if BeamNG is not installed
  
• Fixed steel custom paint always having scratches in beamng
  
• Fixed balancing mass 0-100 slider value converted when using [lb]
  
• Tweaked difficulty presets in campaign to max out at 500 M$
  
• Last patch's changes to export cars' suspension & tires is now actually in

Cheers!

With this second patch for the Ellisbury Update we are addressing technical problems as well as a wide range of issues affecting gameplay. This should sort out the most noticed issues players have been running into!


Winter weather is no match for this custom SUV by OT motive.

[h3]General Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed large memory leaks from opening and calculating cars, improving performance
  
• Made rear engine layouts available on ladder frame chassis
  
• Tweaked reliability score dependency for demographics, making it weaker
  
• Tweaked progression of balancing mass slider, making slider 100 less viable
  
• Fixed loading screens continuing to load images in the background photo scene
  
• Removed grouping commas from numbers in photoscene slider textboxes
  
• Fixed AI being able to use more than 15 quality with +15 tech pool
  
• Fixed lua error changing bottom end parts, family deselected
  
• Fixed lua error on changing tire diameter
  
• Fixed rear engine AWD not scaling gearboxes, leading to small rear engines not fitting
  
• Fixed issue with excessively narrow tires causing all calculations to break down
  
• Fixed Lua error switching engine orientation
  
• Fixed mod warning popup is complaining about car mods selecting an engine for a new car
  
• Improved image caching so it doesn't spawn a new texture for duplicate materials

[h3]Campaign Fixes[/h3]

• Added 2020 sandbox company techpool and made techpool lerp between the set years
  
• Fixed campaign finish screen having incorrect company score
  
• Changed step size of cash slider in campaign setup to allow for smaller values
  
• Added company valuation breakdown to campaign top bar
  
• Fixed not-yet-bought plots adding to company valuation
  
• Fixed car and engine factory shift sliders not updating engine/car costs
  
• Fixed a lua error setting up new engine factory
  
• Fixed sandbox-only race tires showing up in campaign tech tree as unlocks
  
• Tweaked difficulty multipliers of HQ countries in campaign setup
  
• Added WES button to campaign top bar to show emissions standards
  
• Fixed empty no-tooling factory tooling settings showing when tooling it afterwards
  
• Fixed factory setup stats not correctly populating on summary / signoff screen

[h3]UI Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed Car Manager list items to now show WES standard for emissions
  
• Improved quality slider UI clarity for part unlocks happening
  
• Removed header paint slot due to incompatibility with newer, nicer materials and heat system
  
• Fixed being unable to transfer cars between sandbox companies
  
• Removed pin from top-bar, drop-down markets UI
  
• Fixed sandbox tech pool UI locking the car section without a car
  
• Fixed engine selection panel not enabling buttons in sandbox if company has no engines
  
• Replaced trim graph emissions mode UI with detailed stats fuel economy UI
  
• Fixed multi-select trim delete not working in list mode
  
• Added disclaimer for interior design feature, or the lack thereof

[h3]Exporter Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed issue with sound configuration in BeamNG exports
  
• Fixed setup strings file for exporter
  
• Fixed BeamNG glass not exporting transparent anymore
  
• Fixed taillights and brake lights not exporting independent of each other
  
• Fixed remaining issues with carbon fiber exporting with unwanted tints
  
• Improved various tire and suspension related things for exported cars

We'll closely observe if anything else broke, as some pretty heavy underlying changes needed to be made to fix the technical issues. There are a few more items on our list to get done and fixed before moving on to the next big update dev cycle - we'll keep you posted.

Cheers!

In this first little hotfix between the years, we have rooted out some annoyances for you!

[h3]Hotfix 1 Changelog[/h3]

• Fixed error starting a campaign on Mac test build
  
• Fixed tyre sidewall advanced trim colour adjustment not applying to the sidewall
  
• Stopped corrupt .PNGs crashing the image importer, and added prompt about image corruption
  
• Fixed detailed stats reliability/costs/ET being converted by the weight conversion

[h3]Hotfix 1 Exporter Changes[/h3]

• Fixed issues related to hidden car bodies and wheels
  
• Fixed advanced suspension and engine placement parameter parts having flipped slot names
  
• Changed wheel hub parts to be unique for each trim due to offset issues
  
• (Potentially) Fixed exporter issue with grille meshes issue crashing the export
  
• Made advanced tuning parameters disabled by default, must be enabled by selecting advanced tuning parts under the car body and the engine

Of course, we're not quite as responsive as usual now over the holidays, but will be back early January for some proper fixing up of what needs polish and fixing.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Cheers